


Home for the Holidays & Drama

by Aaronlisa



Category: Glee
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Season/Series 03, canonical slurs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-27
Updated: 2016-12-27
Packaged: 2018-09-12 13:00:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9072715
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aaronlisa/pseuds/Aaronlisa
Summary: Rachel goes home for the holidays and finds out that Blaine and Kurt have broken up and everything back home is complicated with drama.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally written back in 2012 so it's not canon for anything after Season Three.

New York isn't what she expected it to be when she was dreaming of escaping Lima. Despite her considerable talent, Rachel isn't the most talented girl when she enters a room, instead she's one of many talented girls. She's not the only girl with dreams of Broadway or the drive, determination and talent to see that dream become a reality. The shine of New York has become slightly tarnished by the time Rachel returns to Lima during the winter holidays. Instead of the wide-eyed, innocent girl with the brilliant smile, Rachel is thinner, tired and significantly less naive than she had been when she had left. 

As she fixes her lipstick in the rear-view mirror of her car, Rachel decides that she's not going to tell her friends about her disillusionment. She smiles at her reflection and decides to pretend that NYADA hadn't made her feel small, insignificant and unimportant. For Kurt's sake, she'll pretend that she's happy to be in the big city that she's always dreamt about. Her smile fades as she realizes that she's more alone in New York than she ever was in Lima. 

A sharp rap on the driver side window startles Rachel out of her thoughts and she turns slightly in her seat. Blaine grins at her before he rushes around the car. Rachel unlocks the car door and she smiles at him as she slides into the passenger seat. 

"Hi Rachel!" Blaine cheerfully greets her.

"Blaine," Rachel replies. "How are you?"

"All things considered, I'm good." 

Rachel arches an eyebrow at him. She's not sure why things shouldn't be great for Blaine. For a moment, she feels the burn of jealousy because she wishes that she could be in his shoes, living her senior year one more time. Rachel pushes away that thought and the jealousy because this isn't supposed to be about her. 

"What do you mean?" Rachel asks. 

"You didn't hear?" Blaine questions her. 

Rachel shakes her head in denial. She's been so busy trying to stay on top at NYADA that she's fallen out of the loop with almost everything to do with home. She's lost count of how many unread emails and Facebook messages that she has.

"I thought that Kurt would have told you," Blaine says as he stares out the window at Breadstix. 

"Kurt and I haven't really talked since school started," Rachel quietly tells him. 

She doesn't tell him that Kurt hasn't quite gotten over the fact that she got into NYADA despite choking during her audition while he hadn't gotten in with his flawless audition. Rachel doesn't mention that Kurt blames her for Finn's decision to enlist. There might have been a time when she would have but Kurt is Blaine's boyfriend and she's just not that girl anymore. 

"Oh," Blaine says. He looks nervous. "Kurt broke up with me. He said I was too distracting." 

They sit there in silence partly because Rachel doesn't know what to say. Sorry seems so trite and tired. She had always thought that Blaine and Kurt would last. Rachel places her hand on top of his and gently squeezes. Blaine turns his hand around and squeezes back. Rachel feels even more guilt for letting New York and NYADA consume her when her friends needed her. 

* * * 

Kurt has been acting reserved towards her ever since she entered the restaurant on Blaine's arm. She wanted to slap him because he's being hypocritical. Kurt had dumped them both and replaced Blaine with Chandler, yet he's treating them like they're the bad guys. It's not as Blaine was being anything more than his normal chivalrous self when he had held out his arm for her. It's not as if they've touched since they've sat down at the table. In fact, Blaine had spent most of his time since they had sat down talking with the members of New Direction that are still at McKinley. It makes Rachel angry, even if she's not sure if she's more upset about Kurt's obvious jealousy or Blaine ignoring her. 

"Man hands," Santana drawls as she sits down beside Rachel, who gives her a dirty look for the offensive nickname. 

"Santana," Rachel frostily replies, "What do you want?" 

"Hey calm down, I just thought that us New Yorkers should stick together," Santana tells her. 

"Really then, why is this the first time that I've seen you since graduation?" Rachel asks. 

Santana shrugs. "I thought I'd let you get settled at NYADA." 

"Sure," Rachel replies. "And I thought that we'd agreed to be friends." 

"I was trying to get my act together to be honest. I'm starting NYU in January," Santana tells her. "I was busy working and taking some courses in order to get in." 

Rachel doesn't squeal in delight but she does smile at the former cheerleader's news. Especially when Santana smiles back at her in response. Rachel knows that Santana will never ask outright for a real friendship but this is the closest she'll get to doing so. 

"So what's the story with Hummel? And his apparent hate for hobbits?" 

Rachel sighs at Santana's question, of course, she shouldn't expect any sensitivity from her. Not even now. Still Rachel quietly tells her what had happened and how Kurt isn't really her friend. That he hasn't been since they'd left for New York together. 

"Well Hummel was always competing with you," Santana points out. "It's not surprising that he has his panties in a twist. Even if he should be over it and all. Isn't he interning with Vogue or something?" 

"I wouldn't say he's angry or anything like it," Rachel reluctantly says. "He's just busy." 

Santana laughs and wraps an arm around Rachel's shoulders. 

"Berry it's nice to see that New York hasn't harden you into a bitter cynic yet, but Hummel is angry." 

* * * 

For some reason, they all end up at Rachel's house, down in the Oscar room. She remembers the last party that she had hosted here and how it had ended. The only difference is that this time there is a lack of alcohol and Finn. Kurt is still staring at her judgmentally even though it's practically obscene how wrapped around Chandler he is. Kurt and his boyfriend are rivalling Santana and Brittany with the displays of public affection. She can't help but wonder why he even came. 

Blaine sits down beside her with a sigh. This reunion hasn't exactly been fun or even something that she wants to repeat anytime soon. Quinn and Santana have been marginally nicer to her and Puck was sweet to her now that he didn't have something to prove. But the rest of her former classmates have reminded her of why she had hated high school and why she had been desperate to escape Lima. They sit beside one another quietly watching everyone for a few moments and she wonders if she should send everyone but Blaine home. 

"Tell me a crazy story about New York," Blaine says. 

Rachel laughs as she tries to think of her craziest story but before she can tell him, Kurt is standing in front of them with his arms folded across his chest. 

"Don't you two look cozy," Kurt angrily says. 

Before Blaine or Rachel can respond, Santana's there and she looks furious. 

"Lady boy," Santana says. "Why do you care about how close the hobbits are? Last I looked you were attached to that freak on the couch." 

"Santana, please," Rachel protests. She doesn't want this to become any messier than it already has. 

"Stay out of this Rachel," Kurt spits out. "Considering that my boyfriend was more interested in her than me, I think I have a right." 

"Actually no, you don't," Santana replies. "You moved on or is that boy you were attached to supposed to make Blaine jealous because I don't think he's aware that you're just using him to get back at your ex-boyfriend." 

Rachel watches in horror as Chandler's face falls. 

"Is that true Kurt?" Chandler asks. 

"N-no," Kurt replies. 

"Are you sure because it seems like you're more concerned about Blaine and Rachel than you are about me." 

Chandler races up the stairs with Kurt following him, trying to protest that Blaine means nothing to him despite the fact that everyone knows differently. Rachel sighs at the fact that even without alcohol, her parties, planned or otherwise, are doomed to fail. After Kurt's departure, everyone else quietly leaves. Quinn stays behind and help Rachel clean up the mess. 

* * * 

She's lying in her bed when her phone rings. Rachel debates ignoring it but in the end she answers it, expecting the worse. If it's Kurt, she doesn't want to delay the confrontation. 

"Hello?" Rachel tentatively responds. 

"Hello Rachel," Blaine greets her. "I believe that you promised me a story before we were rudely interrupted." 

"I don't recall promising you anything Blaine Warbler," Rachel tells him with a giggle. 

"Well you can't blame me for trying," Blaine says to her. "I'm sorry about Kurt." 

"You don't need to apologize for Kurt." 

"I'm still sorry. I should have known that he would have jumped to conclusions. It's why I ignored you at the restaurant." 

Rachel's silent for a moment as she thinks about Kurt's accusation that Blaine was more interested in her than him. She was certain that Kurt had gotten over his jealousy of her when it came to Blaine. It's not as if she had acted like she had a crush on Blaine after the whole coffee house incident. She had moved on, or more accurately she'd gone back to pining over Finn. Apparently she had been wrong though. 

"Why would he have jumped to any conclusions about us?" Rachel quietly asks. "You're gay, I'm a girl and you made it very clear that you felt nothing for me other than friendship." 

Blaine sighs into the phone. "I might have given Kurt the impression that I felt more for you than I should feel for someone who's _just_ a friend." 

"Why would you do that?" Rachel asks. 

"Because I do," Blaine says. "I was confused when you and Kurt forced me to choose between the pair of you." 

"We didn't make you choose," Rachel protests. 

"Not in the most conventional sense but Kurt wanted me to be gay and you wanted me to pick you. It wasn't easy for me." 

"So you picked Kurt and being gay," Rachel says.

She's so confused. Blaine is gay. After he and Kurt had been dating and Kurt was secure in Blaine's affection, she and Blaine had become friends. They talked about cute boys all of the time. Blaine had never acted as anything but her friend. 

"Yeah because it seemed easier to be true to who I thought I was, who I thought I had to be. But I couldn't really get over you," Blaine tells her.

"I don't know what to say." 

"I'm not asking you to make some declaration of love, Rachel, I'm content with us being friends," Blaine tells her. "I'm not looking for anything more than that." 

"Then why tell me this now, and how did Kurt even find out?" 

"After you both got your NYADA letters, Kurt started being mean and I'd defend you. Sometimes he'd just pick on your clothes or your song choice at glee but after New York it got worse. We finally had an epic fight over it and it just came out that I liked you. As in more than a friend." 

"Oh," Rachel quietly says. 

Apparently Blaine's a better actor than she thought. 

"It's okay Rach, I'm really not asking you for anything more than friendship," Blaine tells her. "I like you but I'm not interested in the idea of a long term relationship and I'm kind of seeing someone." 

"I can do friendship," Rachel admits. 

She's not sure about how she feels with what he's told her but she doesn't want to lose him. Tonight has made her aware of how much his friendship means to her. Rachel feels bad about the whole Kurt thing but perhaps it's for the best, like Santana had pointed out earlier, she and Kurt were always competing with one another. Rachel smiles and she knows that no matter what, she's glad that when she goes back to New York she'll have Santana and Blaine to lean on. It'll make things easier for her. 

"So how about that story that you promised?" Blaine asks. 

Rachel laughs with him before she launches into a story about New York. 

 

((END))


End file.
